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| D'banj Burna Boy |
“Na Fela Shrine we dey, so make we do am the Fela way” Burna Boy echoed on stage. And with that intro, he removed his trousers with other accessories and handed them over to his disc jockey, DJ Spinall. With only his white under pant on, Burna Boy left nothing else to the imagination of his fans. Surprisingly, while a few hailed him, several others were filled with anger, disappointment and openly condemned the ugly show of shame, from a supposed role model.
Also not left out in the indecent act on stage was the Koko Master, Dbanj. All in the name of entertaining his teeming fans, he ingloriously took his game overboard by performing series of obscene and dirty acts with a couple of female revelers on stage.
All these happened at the just concluded annual Felabration that held inside the New African Shrine in the Agidingbi area of Lagos.
No doubt, the image of both entertainers loomed large in the thick billows of smoke that soaked the area while they were busy rocking the stage with their shameful acts.
However, it was not a sight for the feeble minds or the unanimated. This was Felabration at its climax.
“I don’t know why Burna Boy did what he did. But I can definitely tell you that Fela never performed in pants. Burna Boy did it on his own and I don’t ever want people to link that stunt with Fela,” an angry Femi Kuti tweeted on Twitter.
The sentiments of the crown prince of Afro Beat, Femi Kuti was the same as that of the audience who witnessed Burna Boy donning only a pant to perform his song “Run My Race”. “I don’t know why he did that, but I am sure he was drunk. He even had an erection while performing on that stage,” an angry female fan tweeted.
Despite the act of shame, the River State-born singer was however at the top of his game with songs like “Gimme Dat”, “Tonight”, and “My Life”.
“I didn’t think about it, I didn’t plan it to pull off my clothes and get naked on the stage; it all came to me while I was performing,” he revealed to EE after the controversial performance.
If that of Burna Boy’s pant stunt can be excused as trying to imitate Fela, D’banj’s reckless acts was as distasteful as they come.
Several times during his performance, the obviously tipsy musician beckoned on girls in the crowd to come join him in a series of indecent and immoral acts.
A particular incident however pitched him against the angry fans who showed their displeasure as D’banj was openly caressing and smooching a girl he picked from the crowd.
Another angry and disappointed fan who spoke with EE said she angrily left the venue when she could no longer cope with the obscenities going on at the show from supposed role models.
“Burnaboy and Dbanj are not fit to be called role models. They really disappointed us with their shameful acts on stage. Besides, what were they trying to prove?”
Burna Boy and D’banj’s show of shame was however just the appurtenance of the whole festivity that enveloped Felabration 2013. For a brief moment, it was as though both popular artistes were in a bid to outdo each other in the stagecraft and theatrics of the late legendary Afro Beat founder, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
The festival was graced by the crème de la crème of the Nigerian music industry. Olamide, Wizkid, Rayce, May D, Waje, Seyi Shay, Passuma, DJ Jimmy Jatt, Tunde Ednut, Sound Sultan, MI, Ice Prince among others were all present during the week to pay tribute to one of the greatest Nigerian musicians of all time.
Kymani Marley, son of legendary reggae musician Bob Marley kicked off his performance with rendition of some of his popular songs before switching to the more popular tunes of his late dad, like “One Love”, “Who the Cap Fits” and “Redemption Song” much to the delight of the crowd.
Dr Sid was on hand to entertain the yearning audience as he performed some of his hit songs. Next was nascent rapper Ajebutter 22 who made his Felabration debut on the night Dbanj and Burnaboy chose to disgrace and belittle themselves.
Other performers of the night were Wande Coal who with the help of DJ Spinall also thrilled the crowd. Other stand out performers were Omawumi who alongside her band gave a splendid live performance of some of her greatest hits. Capitol Hills artistes, Igbo Boy Illbliss, Suspect and Chidinma alongside their affiliate Phyno were all on hand to give fantastic renditions of some of their popular tunes.
Apart from the show of shame carried out by Burna Boy and D’banj which punctuated the rhapsody experienced at Felabration 2013, the week-long music festival was an obvious testament to the high regards that the late Fela Anikulpko Kuti wields on contemporary music.
Story by Steve Dede
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